Project description

Energy scenarios play a crucial role in the general public debate about the future of energy supply. They are an important instrument to support decision-making in politics and economy being used by a multitude of organisations, ranging from bodies of national governments and transnational organisations to private companies and banks. Their context of usage ranges from the development of general strategies to the assessment of particular political or economic options. As decisions in the field of energy supply such as investment in power plants are especially binding for long periods of time, a careful analysis of possible futures of energy supply is necessary. The authors of energy scenarios - typically specialized scientific institutes - therefore have to fulfil a twofold requirement: energy scenarios have to be applicable in situations of decision-making and at the same time energy scenarios have to fulfil the standards of scientific practice.

The aim of the project is the development of a realistic and comprehensive understanding of the entire life cycle of scenarios, including their history, their construction principles, assessment methods and their communication effects with respect to policy-makers and the general public.

Conference volume

As a synopsis of the two workshops presented below a conference volume was published, which can be downloaded as a PDF.

Identifying users' demands and requests for energy scenarios in international agencies and organisations;

Discussing problems and analysing specific challenges in decision-making by using energy scenarios on a global level, i.e. integration of the national perspectives into a global perspective in terms of energy settings;

Presenting methodological developments and scientific approaches for international contexts to discuss their problems and challenges in the users' perspective;

Using the results of the workshop to further develop the idea of a Helmholtz research school on energy scenarios.